03/17/05
August 11, 2000 Web posted at: 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT)
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- A Florida jury ruled Friday that the Walt Disney Co. stole the idea for a sports theme park from a former baseball umpire and his architect partner and must pay $240 million in damages.
An Orange County civil court jury accepted the plaintiffs' claim that Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, which opened in 1997 near Orlando, Florida, was based on plans and a model the two men proposed in a 1987 meeting with Disney executives.
"It says to America that small companies can get justice," Johnnie Cochran Jr., an attorney for the plaintiffs, said afterward. "They had the idea, and you can't take someone's ideas in America, and that's what this company did."
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FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes After 12 hours of deliberation, the jury found Disney guilty of fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, misappropriation and conspiracy to misappropriate and ordered the Burbank, California-based entertainment giant to pay $240 million in damages. That was less than one-sixth of the $1.5 billion the plaintiffs sought.
Because the jury found Disney acted with malicious intent, the trial judge has the discretion to increase the damages. The judge could also award attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs. There was no indication when the judge would make those decisions.
"Justice caught up with Disney," said victorious plaintiffs' attorney Willie Gary, adding that Disney felt it had the right to steal ideas from people who lacked the wherewithal to develop them.
The plaintiffs, former baseball umpire and businessman Nicholas Stracick of Buffalo, New York, and architect Edward Russell of Fonthill, Ontario, alleged that Disney fraudulently appropriated plans drawn up by their company, All Pro Sports Camps Inc.
Disney denied the allegation and said the sports park was created by its in-house designers. They said it was similar to many existing sports centers and Olympic training centers and that no one could claim ownership of the idea to build sports complexes.
Disney's park has a baseball field designed for major league baseball -- it is the spring training home for the Atlanta Braves -- and other facilities for sports ranging from football to badminton, all included in the plans drawn up by All Pro Sports Camps Inc., Stracick and Russell's company.
While the plaintiffs acknowledged some differences between their park and the one built by Disney, they said the company had stolen the concept.
Disney general counsel Lou Meisinger said Disney would appeal the "runaway" verdict, first at the trial level and then if necessary in an appellate court.
"The notion that we had to steal the idea from the plaintiffs, an idea as old as ancient Greece, is preposterous," he said.
"We're not knocked out," he said. "This verdict will not stand. This is an aberrational verdict and a one-time thing."
Meisinger said the plaintiffs lawyers had tried to frame the case as "little people against big business" and attempted to "inflame their prejudice."
Plaintiffs' lawyer Willie Gary called Disney's reaction "sour grapes."
"We beat 'em and quite frankly we'll beat 'em again if we need to," Gary said. "They're crying like little babies."
Disney figures show that about 800,000 people a year visit the sports complex. Given Disney's overall performance since the Wide World of Sports opened in 1997, the plaintiffs estimated they were deprived of up to $1.6 billion.
The trial was held in a Florida circuit court in Orlando, an area in which Disney is the largest employer, with about 55,000 workers.
The judge severely limited the scope of what jurors could consider by adopting jury instructions that said the architecture, site plan and business plan for the sports complex were not copied from All Pro and could not be considered.
All Pro claimed 88 similarities between its plans and the Disney complex and documented more than 200 telephone calls with Disney executives.
A plaintiffs attorney had said on Thursday that the two sides were involved in settlement talks. The jury, meanwhile, deliberated for about seven hours Thursday and five more Friday before reaching the decision.
The two sides disagreed on how much the judge could raise the $240 million damage award. The plaintiffs' lawyers said the judge could triple it, while Disney said he could double it.
One alternate juror, dismissed from the case before deliberations began because he wasn't needed on the jury, said he would have decided against Disney and awarded the full request of $1.4 billion in damages to teach the entertainment giant a lesson.
Jimmy Johnson Jr., a 35-year-old truck driver, questioned the testimony of Disney executives, particularly architect Wing Chao, who claimed they knew nothing of Stracick and Russell's plans.
Johnson said Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner appeared evasive in his videotaped deposition played in the five-week trial.
"I found most of the Disney executives to be less than forthcoming," Johnson said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.